Unmatched Patience
by McGonagall's Bola
Summary: She waited like a cat in a tree – if needed. Wasn't that the most of confirmation to herself and the rest of the world that she actually was no lunatic, driven by her needs only and unable to wait to satisfy? BellaMin -REWRITTEN!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

She watched the elder witch's hand as she seemed to correct essays, having given her sixth year Ravenclaws and Slytherins the rest of the lesson to get to the essay to be handed in by that Friday… Essays were rather far from Bellatrix Black's mind as she just continued to watch; the memory of her alternate cat shape was offered to Bellatrix's attention, and suddenly the puzzle fit.

She vividly recalled the exact day she had begun to hate cats. She recalled it like yesterday.

She had been six… and had noticed a cat wandering near the gates lining their manor with its extended gardens, while running about the grass with her two sisters. Narcissa had not been able to follow her elders. At once, Bellatrix' curiosity had peaked upon noticing the feline, and she had been stupid enough to go and gather it and carry it inside, where her dearly beloved mother had not paid much attention to her nor the rescued feline. Her father, however…

She should have left the animal – lonely, but alive. Upon his arrival home again and seeing his Black daughter amusing a cat undoubtedly from the street; Cygnus had been so mad at her for taking in the animal – saving and showing compassion was unlike a Black. He had mercilessly taken it by its tail, walking away with it… Bella immediately following in tears, begging him not to hurt it, that she would return it into the nature… back on the street. As she scrambled after him, she watched him hang the feline on the washing line with its tail as it screamed and pulled but would not be freed. It screamed itself to death eventually. The mere memory made those helpless screams still resound in Bella's twisted mind. She had vomited extensively all night from the sight offered to her by her father. He had never tried to stop her from following, and she could not be surer than that he had meant for her to see it. Oh, how it had certainly made her_ hate_ cats…

Nevertheless. As her eyes easily fastened upon the easy motions... she could feel her lust for the elder witch rapidly spread through her veins _again_ and realized more than ever that she wanted Minerva McGonagall. She so wanted her. Whether she actually had to hurt her for her to want her too, she did not care. Bellatrix Black always did get that what she wanted, and that now was Minerva McGonagall... which was undoubtedly odd considering how she indeed hated cats... She and Minerva, however, had been _love _at first sight, at least on her behalf. The thought of a cat purring in her lap was close to disgusting to Bella. The thought of _Minerva _sitting in her lap, purring with pure delight... Oh. Biting down on her lower lip not to let the low moan escape which sought to fall from her lips, she continued to feast upon the elder witch's figure.

More intelligent and penetrating than any of her sisters or House mates, lovers or her foes... in her own little way, either sooner or later the Blackest daughter always got what she so wanted. She waited like a cat in a tree – if needed. If she wanted the tasty mouse indeed, she would get it.

Wasn't that the most of confirmation to herself and the rest of the world that she actually was no lunatic, driven by her needs only and unable to wait to satisfy?

Whether the mouse twisted or turned on its way, it did not matter… If she so had to make it come to her with whatever mean that was necessary; if she so nearly had to kill it to have it... she would get the chosen prey that could only be denied for but a moment. Nothing could be denied for longer than a moment. However... If needed, she would wait with unmatched patience. Thus far she merely hadn't had the need to; had found those weaker spots in no-time. Patience had never been the key... until Minerva, who sorely did test her patience indeed. Sweet torture.

Bellatrix Black _was_ the cat that caught every mouse. Manipulation was a treat that she more than her sisters or even her father had been born with. She had never had to use the rough means... at least not to get her little preys. To satisfy her needs, however...

The exception on the rule, though... She had met that exception upon her arrival at Hogwarts that first day in 1963… had only realized she wanted her five years later, found she was indeed the exception another year later.

There was one prey she would never seem to get, and that prey was Minerva McGonagall… It seemed as if the woman was immune, but Bella quietly mused that she just hadn't found the right way yet. A challenge – merely but a challenge. Bellatrix's methods of manipulation had worked on her other little victims very easily… Minerva McGonagall, ever the loyal teacher, would undoubtedly let her find the answer so to speak on the path of learning… discovering how extensive her manipulative abilities were. If only she knew. She would… naturally never admit even to herself that despite all that, she never would have expected the Gryffindor Head of House to be _that _much of a challenge.

She was the prey Bella had wanted most since having truly realized the depth of her _feelings_; had not been interested in others anymore. The way how she seemed to float further away each time Bella pushed farther made her want her only more… actually turned her on.

The coldness of her voice as it mercilessly cut through the room when she caught a pupil busy with something else than her class matched the coldness in her heart. It matched the coldness deep in Bellatrix Black's heart. Tenderness was not something others thought her capable of, let alone kindness or gentleness. Bellatrix had thought others sentimental or just had not understood what they had meant. Until Minerva finally came into the _erotic _picture somewhere and she suddenly understood, because she seemed to miss the same feelings as Bellatrix had always been accused of missing by not-Blacks… and even by Blacks with pride on their lips.

Suddenly, the meaning of these words had been uncovered. They fit Minerva. They were Minerva. They were the same even in exterior to a certain extent: ink curls, deep despite different colored eyes. They each held the same wisdom and mystery… Their lips were the same dark red color; it would pale through the years… but then, had their lips touched, they would have been one and hard to tear apart. They seemed one and the same person just put in other stages of their lives; merely kneaded into other characters with other capabilities by their respective nurtures… In nature they were and always would be the same to Bellatrix. She furiously hoped to still be so hot and tight at Minerva's age.

Bellatrix wanted them to be one. She needed it, versus clinging to insanity. Bellatrix Black was falling into an abyss… and Minerva was the only one who could make her soar higher… far away from it. Her touch… Those delicious thin lips locked on her nipple or lower… They would save her truly. Minerva just needed to make her float before she had fallen already and the case had been lost.

Right on the opposite of Minerva, however, stood her Black heritage. She needed to be Black, too. Both in looks and behavior had she been most Black among her sisters – having been the first born and daddy's 'favorite'. She was on a cord clinging on for dear life with no choice in the matter, being dragged from the one to the other side, with Black slowly winning. Yet it never made her want to stop thrusting in Dark Red happily as deep she could.

Daddy was a cruel man – not that her mother was any better. Often enough Black families praised her for resembling her father so much; in other circles it was met with disgust.

Despite what most of the non-Blacks thought, she hadn't always been like that actually. By the time Bella began attending Hogwarts, most of the damage had been already done – literally… and figuratively.

As many other Wizarding children, she and her sisters were homeschooled by their father. Cygnus certainly required a lot and wasn't easily satisfied… either daughter who failed to satisfy would be punished physically. Most of the time that was Bellatrix somehow.

He claimed often enough that was the way to learn, and maybe it were… Rarely was the same mistake made another time. The one time it actually did happen, was a physical battle she never would forget, though. She suspected that especially the talking back part had earned her the harshness of his hand, though. Upon second failure at casting an _Oppugno_ spell with her nana's wand on a bunch of small daggers, she had thoughtlessly cried that Irma's wand was likely faulty since it had been in use so long already, having been given to Irma herself as the elder. The glare that he had cast in her direction then even though he remained wordless was scary. It _should_ have warned her. It didn't.

Once he had dismissed his 'class', a flicker of his eyes had convinced the ten-year-old Bella to remain. Andromeda and Narcissa, respectively eight and six, had had no clue whatsoever. They had not even looked back, possibly assuming that it had to do with Bella's upcoming first year at Hogwarts. It had been the beginning of June, and though no acceptance letter had arrived yet, Bella not going was impossible, even if she had not shown early signs of great magic. At six months old, she could make her pacifier already fly to her from the bedside table…

Once his younger daughters had left his office, however… a wave of Cygnus' wand had locked them inside it. Nonverbally, a silence spell had been added atop. "How dare you thoughtlessly insult your family's wealthy heritage when the fault lies with you? How dare you with the Black blood in your veins say you cannot do something as daughter of one of the best wizard families in Britain if not the world? I sincerely hope that by the time you go to Hogwarts, you will have forgotten wordings like that even exist, for they do not as a Black. Otherwise, I'll have to make you. Do not make me make you. You'll regret it." His voice had dropped an octave and had yet sounded more threatening than ever. Do not put generations of fame to shame, Bellatrix, or you will no longer belong here. You, who carries all assets of the Black women…" At that, his gaze had easily wandered from her face to her bosom – which on the verge of eleven had already grown to a reasonable size as was common with all Black women. "You're a woman, not a child anymore. Do behave like it."

Indeed, she had become a woman about a month before. Cygnus Black III had been home alone with his daughters as his wife had gone to Knockturn Alley for a few tumblers of whiskey and a gamble with the _girls_. She had gone to the bathroom and found blood in her knickers… Druella was a very passive woman in general. Even if it had been in later years, Bellatrix most likely had had to figure it for herself as well. Druella was not the mother to be talking about such things with her daughters. No one else had ever mentioned either.

So, she had gone to her father by lack of anyone else at home and had told him she seemed to be bleeding and upon asking where, for he didn't see any blood anywhere, she had cast her gaze down... He had solely called one of their House-Elves and had let the unknowing creature help her. That night, they had had quite a copious dinner together to celebrate Bella's having become a woman. She had gotten her first glass of Champaign; had been embarrassed the whole of the evening. 'Dromeda and 'Cissa had been lucky enough. They would not have been the ones to find what it meant; had questioned their elder sister after the "party" – confused by Cygnus' wordings of his eldest having become a woman…

She had not at all been ready for what had come that spring before her first year at Hogwarts. "I'll introduce you to the last aspect of womanhood. Maybe you'll remember to behave then…" He had whispered in her ear… then thrown her on his desk, her thighs having parted in the moment. With ease, the knickers had been pulled down and an intense pain had washed over her before she even realized what was going on… She remembered feeling like she was going to… split apart – another way to womanhood Bellatrix had had to learn through experience, nothing else. Being fucked had been another something she had not known about until it happened.

After he had exhausted himself in and on his daughter, Cygnus told her to disappear, together with the evidence… that it must look spick and span. He had left the house then. In tears, Bella had slid down on the floor and with a stab to her heart had realized she had worn those same knickers that one day when she had _bled_ for the first time.

Curious it was that she would not mind finding all of dear Minerva's fingers deep inside her. Merely looking at her inconspicuously from her table in the Great Hall – not that anyone would dare to mention it to her even if they weren't too engrossed to notice – and watching her move, no matter if it were to raise a fork of dinner to her mouth or not… She always imagined those fingers inside her… She always _wanted _those fingers inside her. She would get them – get Minerva.

She was no longer interested in grey mice. She would get the pussy.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Twirling a lock of curly ebony between her fingers in thought, Bellatrix Black otherwise kept her bottomless eyes trained upon Professor McGonagall. Her quill had already Vanished multiple times without issues, only to be replaced by a rabbit that had to be Conjured, prior to Transfiguring in a quill again, at Bella's whispered commands. She no longer heard the sighs of despair as her colleagues struggled, their professor passing through the desk and halting where necessary – thus basically stopping everywhere to show them how to really move their wands, then repeat the spell correctly. Bellatrix watched her as she went, seated at the last desk alone, where she could be inconspicuous.

The elder witch glided effortlessly through the desks, her heels clacking against the stone underneath her feet, the sound echoing very softly. She had the elegance of a woman that was maybe half her age… and upon the realization Bella could feel her body respond, like it had for many months – Minerva was pushing her farther into insanity without knowing. Bellatrix quietly shifted her legs, feeling wetness hotly between them… It wouldn't be the first time after one of Minerva's classes that Bella would need to change panties. She supposed the reason for that was the wait… and it was all both satisfying and incredibly annoying.

Bellatrix had already found over the last months that – if she hadn't known already – Minerva McGonagall was a very intricate woman, as steel hard as she seemed. She would not fall for one of her pupils, either male or female… no matter how appealing or how manipulative.

Of course, if she indeed wanted, Bella could force the attractive old woman to do fall for her. She knew of Cruciatus and Imperius curses, of very tricky potions. However, she wanted to win Minerva McGonagall without magic. She wanted to achieve and feel it. If possible, she wanted Minerva to want her in return – that was possibly the most tricky bit of it all. She wanted to be wanted by no other than Professor Minerva McGonagall, the lioness.

Suddenly, the elder woman's green eyes landed upon her. Minerva's eyebrow quirked in wonder characteristically: why wasn't she being busy with Transfiguration? Challenging her, Bellatrix merely continued looking at the elder witch as she waved her wand and mouthed the spell to make her quill Vanish, then Conjured a large white rabbit atop of her desk without as much as a word, finishing the routine with the Transfiguration of the rabbit in a quill again. The quirk of Minerva's eyebrow deepened for just a moment. No question that it had all been performed correctly and in rapid succession.

She made to move on to the next two failing pupils, just as the bell towers chimed loud to indicate the hour and with it, the end of class. Professor McGonagall only barely rose above the sound of talking and rummaging as she wished everyone a good weekend and reminded them of the essay due next Wednesday, advising everyone to get to it this weekend even though she knew that few would listen.

A wave of her wand easily saw all quills and rabbits and creatures in between disappeared as the pupils began to filter onto the hallway. "Bellatrix Black! Stay."

The command was not so difficult, yet made Bella's heart beat slightly faster – she doubted she would have reacted the same if any other professor had made her stay or McGonagall herself maybe six months prior. She and Minerva had had only a handful of times alone maybe, and most of these times had been in her first years at Hogwarts for retaliating against professors and the like, prior to her having realized her feelings about Minerva or how deep they had come to be now. Bellatrix' mind reeled with possibilities. Whereas she really had longed for this moment, them alone, sometime… this wasn't the time. She hadn't figured a plan quite yet…

She watched as the elder witch followed all pupils from the room with her eyes, remaining by her desk. She tried not to consider pushing Minerva against it, and… The sound of the door closing interrupted her dirty thoughts. "You seem to be bored often lately while in Transfiguration," Minerva spoke.

When Bellatrix again opened her eyes, which she had closed for a moment, she discovered Minerva had suddenly relocated to the desk near hers. She opened her mouth to answer, but… It wasn't necessarily that she did not know what to say, for there was a lot she wanted to say to the elder witch beside her. In return, there was a lot she longed to hear her say as well sometime – scream would even be that bit better. She didn't know what to say first yet, mind uncharacteristically unable to jump ahead in the unanticipated circumstances… to choose what would be in her best benefit.

A thump, however, interrupted their quiet conversation. Minerva looked over her shoulder at the source of the sound, just as Bellatrix, too, noticed the stray grey rabbit between the metal legs of two chairs at the desk against which Minerva leaned. Before she, however, could raise her own wand, Bella had already rendered the animal motionless and dragged it to her, as if by a thread that was invisible to the eye of the beholder. As the animal reached her feet, she bent and gathered it in her arms, stroking one unusually long ear (the other was tiny) while turning her attention to Minerva again. "Bored, _Professor_?" she wondered.

A wave of Minerva's wand easily Vanished the rabbit as she replied, "Yes. Is Transfiguration too easy for you?"

_I wish you were as easy as Transfiguration yourself_, Bella did not say in reply. "No," she said, instead.

Minerva didn't seem convinced at all nor very happy. "You seem to be elsewhere mind-wise a lot of the time lately. I'm assuming that is because of boredom… unless something's the matter you're willing to share with me. I can always give you harder tasks for Transfig–"

"No, I said," Bellatrix spat. She only challenged the look of irritation on Minerva's face with her own. Minerva McGonagall didn't usually permit others to interrupt her when talking – no pupil or colleague. She somehow looked curious for what may follow altogether, though. Bellatrix's tone had not seemed definite, and by no means was she already finished indeed. She knew that she had to tread carefully now, get her cards right. She stepped closer to where Minerva stood slowly, until only mere inches were between both women. "You're right. My mind is often elsewhere, and all seems boring to where it takes me," she whispered.

"Pray tell," Minerva said, crossing her arms over her ample bosom.

Bellatrix leaned in, whispering in her ear, "Everything is very boring to the hot thought of you." She lingered just a few seconds longer than necessary prior to retracting, just in time to see the shock disappear from the elder witch's face only to be replaced by a mix of anger and non-understanding. She most likely had understood it right and hoped she had not. "You've heard me just right," she added.

No sound escaped the younger Slytherin as she easily disarmed Minerva, the wand landing right in her hand a second later. Minerva hadn't anticipated it and had not been able to defend herself. Another wave of Bellatrix's wand had the door magically locked, soon followed by a Silencing Charm. Her eyes remained trained on Minerva as she lowered both wands on the desk which she had occupied earlier, pushing them from reach without moving away from her position so close to Minerva. The elder witch's lips turned into a fine line, urging to tread carefully. Her green eyes were ablaze with rage – Bellatrix wondered how these teal green depths would look in passion.

"Who do you believe you are, Bellatrix Black?" Minerva spat, moving to reach for her wand… but Bella was faster, her hands coming to Minerva's waist and pushing her back against the desk, crushing her own body against the Gryffindor's.

Bella's dark eyes challenged teal. "I thought you wanted me to stay," Bellatrix whispered mockingly, pressing against her teacher. Bellatrix's right hand slid higher up her side slowly until it reached the surprisingly still-firm swell of her bust. Then suddenly, she seized Minerva's hands in a vice grip to make sure she would not be pushed away as she bent to let her hot wet mouth crush against those thin lips. Her lips moved fast, and it took a few seconds until Minerva eventually capitulated… but surprisingly she did – Minerva McGonagall, the strict and adamant Gryffindor lioness, capitulated in her kiss. That realization sure had Bella's dirty mind reel even faster, even harder.

Her mouth opened and tongue invited Minerva's deep in her mouth. She grew slightly more fearless that Minerva wouldn't push her away or even try to. Loosening her grip on her left hand then slightly, she led it to her own bosom… urging Minerva to squeeze the full globe, gasping into her mouth. She then aided Minerva's warm hand in shredding the fabric and forced her hand down her lacy brassiere, showing her how she liked to be touched and just how she liked that hand to cradle the weight, that palm to graze across the pebbling nipple rather rough.

Pushing harder, Bella finally succeeded in getting Minerva flat on the desk. She greedily followed and crawled on the desk as well, sliding one knee between Minerva's legs and heaving herself upon it, straddling the elder witch's left thigh. She must be hell of a kisser to even tease Minerva Fucking McGonagall into this. If Bellatrix had known that having Minerva would be this easy ever since the beginning… somehow it still seemed surreal, but she would just take all possible while the elder witch capitulated and continued stroking her tongue against her pupil's… She would get her mind together any second now, realizing the route she was going.

That point came way too soon, as Minerva grew used to the sensation, the feeling of wanting more urging her down to reality again. She turned her head to deny more kisses and began wriggling against her captor. "No!" she said, firmly as she could. Bella had, however, heard the slight quiver that resided in her voice. "This cannot happen, not now, not ever. You're my pupil! I'm your teacher! I'm–"

Oh but Bellatrix Black had only begun to discover the power of her kisses as she trailed her tongue from the stretch of exposed skin above the collar of Minerva's robes to her well-defined jaw line, leaving feather light kisses and painful nips there. Daring to let go of Minerva's left hand still on her bosom, Bella began unfastening Minerva's robes… and prior to either of them realizing she had managed to reveal what lay beneath fabric: a thin see-through under-robe that didn't particularly hide the elder woman's underwear from view. Bella somehow felt that sooner rather than later, Minerva's sense would return and cause her to find the strength necessary to throw her off… She better work fast if she wanted Minerva to forget her state of undress and go with it. Dragging the fabric of the under-robe higher, her hot lips trailed down the midline of the elder woman's abdomen lower… and lower… She had no time to lose. "I've been fucked all my life," Bella said as she reached the elastic of Minerva's underwear, the under-robe now lingering under her bosom uselessly. "I want to be the fucker once – fuck you… and I certainly will, too."

Passing by her centre, Bellatrix began to nip at the inside of the elder witch's left thigh. Her hand moved down between her slightly spread legs, dragging her nails across her slit through her underwear. Looking at the elder woman's half uncovered body just turned her on more than she ever could have imagined, watching herself touch the woman so intimately. _Oh_. She groaned as she bucked those hips harder and faster against Minerva's thigh, and she knew that she would not last long. Oh yes, Bellatrix Black knew how she liked to be touched in order to reach orgasm. She knew how to buck just to get the most and the best pressure against her clit, making it all tingle for a second until… _Oh_.

The pace of her hand and the strength of her touch upon Minerva's underwear clad pussy only increased. She could hear moans fall from those thin lips, and Bella watched as the elder witch could not keep her green eyes open longer… though she could see her fighting it as well, and losing – losing from a much younger girl's intense lusts.

She moved her hand slightly in order to push the fabric aside to touch her nether lips with her bare fingers, sink them in her wetness. She was not even half as wet as Bellatrix was, but still. Unfortunately – or fortunately – a slight quiver went through Minerva's thigh then and made Bella thrust again one more time and another… until her orgasm took her entirely by surprise, her clit having rubbed against the other woman's thigh right enough to reach climax.

Her nails dug deep into Minerva's pussy as she did, and she could hear her blood rush in her ears for a moment until she suddenly found herself being thrown on the floor. She hadn't come down this fast ever from her high. Focusing again, she saw Minerva sitting upright, holding her robes together with one hand and just capturing her wand with the other one. She shook and panted. Of course, she must have waited for this moment. She would have fought against a possible orgasm as long needed. It filled her with great anger, as green eyes blazed as well.

"You shall leave right this moment," Minerva McGonagall spoke. Her tone told anyone who heard she would not be condoning discussion. The quiver that had been there was gone now.

Knowing that to stay would not be in her best benefit no matter how furious she felt, Bella obeyed.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"I'm glad that you appear to have rediscovered your Black heritage," Cygnus said. "I suspected that you would not disappoint me, because, after all, in the end you never do. You always are very satisfying to me and your blood in the end. It really is pity that your stubbornness and tendency to do the opposite of what is both reasonable and expected often withholds you from doing the right thing and that often you need to feel the pain first to see all more in perspective."

"Yes, Father," Bella said. Cygnus had already mentioned the Dark Lord multiple times and the promise of only pure blood ruling everything that had to do with magic, of the world purified. Over Christmas holidays in the year prior, he had showed an interest in her. She had only seen him about a couple of times, but daddy had mentioned it… She had immediately told him she was by no means interested in ever becoming a member of what she had called his harem. 'Lord Voldemort' had always reminded her of a type that had bunches of women on every finger – that had not changed no matter what she had agreed to now.

She hadn't wanted to ever be ruled, had wanted to set her own rules and abide to these alone. She hadn't wanted to be like Cygnus, blindly following and that just because the man shared some thoughts with him. She thought of her father as a weak wizard for needing someone to 'rule' him, 'guide' him… for letting him carve that disgusting tattoo in his arm.

Oh yes, she had gotten hell for not doing as the Lord and, consequently, her father had asked. Torture hadn't begun to describe it, but she would not give in at that point. Part of what had made her not give in was the thought of the Head of Gryffindor House, the only one in the world which she never would mind being ruled by. One of the recurring fantasies that left her most wet was after all one where Minerva forced her head down between her spread legs.

That had never happened… and after their last encounter, Bellatrix Black knew it never would. She dreaded to admit it to herself, but she had made a terrible mistake by not having waited. If she had done so, like she had told herself she would… she might just have found a way to warm that cold heart like Bellatrix's warmed for Minerva.

Minerva McGonagall was the first and last she had ever felt more for than lust. She never would have called it love in later year, though… but until she died and saw Minerva for the last time a bit further from where she stood dueling Molly Weasley, Bellatrix was honest enough with herself to admit it had at least been 'more'. Maybe it had been love after all, for it was known to make a person act foolish.

A wave of Cygnus' hand indicated she was allowed to leave and so she did, returning to her room to read some more in the book she had begun a day prior. Oh, they had had their game of ignoring. For the most part, both Minerva and she had behaved like nothing had happened, returning just to how it always had been, with the one exception that Minerva would never stay after her classes anymore but leave the room at once. Bellatrix quite liked to believe that it was a score of fear, but even if she were entirely reasonable with herself, it wasn't really believable. Minerva McGonagall was a Gryffindor for a good reason. The House suited her in all the right ways. She regretted that she had never heard the scream of orgasm on those lips, though… if she screamed at all.

She caught herself rereading the same paragraph yet again. She knew that the cause was the anticipation of Lord Voldemort's arrival for dinner soon. That was the main reason why Cygnus had called his older daughter in his office earlier – to inform her of his visit, and to remind her of the fact that he was still very interested in her; in beautiful younger blood. She knew that her father would never consider her beautiful in any way but reveled when others thought her so.

She knew that she had given in to a cause which would pull her under, but she had long passed the point of really caring what happened to her. She had no other real option any longer, after… She would never know whether the Gryffindor lioness could have saved her then.

Time passed remarkably slow as she sat there, waiting for what would come with the book in her lap. She just... couldn't focus, despite the book being one of her usual favorites – a lesbian love story of sorts. She doubted either her mother or even father knew the true nature of most books on the shelves in their family library. It definitely looked old and dusty, and so she suspected it might have belonged to Cygnus' ancestors, who had lived there years prior to them.

Everything else was quiet to the unusual as well. Her younger sisters would come and burst into her room so often otherwise – especially 'Cissa. She thought it strange that neither of them did, as if their father had somehow warned them. That would not be so strange.

When the stuttering graying House-Elf appeared in her room to tell her that her father and the guest wanted to see her downstairs, she still felt surprised, though. Nevertheless, Bellatrix laid the book on her desk, left her old room and walked down the stairs to the dining room with her head high once their House-Elf had disappeared, most likely to the kitchens. She walked into her fate with purposeful strides indeed.

That is when she saw the man her father called Lord from very close for the very first time. She suspected that it wasn't a first time for him to look at her from very close, though. His lips curled into a smile as he saw her. A wave of his hand not unlike her own father's invited Bellatrix to come a bit closer, and she did so. "Your father had informed me that you have changed your mind, Bellatrix," he said.

"Yes," she replied, looking the stranger in the eye for a long second. His dark eyes were incredibly penetrating, and it felt like he could see right through her. It made her suddenly feel slightly uncomfortable. A headache followed her long-second-gaze upon him as he touched Bellatrix's arm – the one which would later carry _His_ Dark Mark.

The encounter with Minerva McGonagall passed through her head and that is when she first realized he was a Legilimens – she would learn from him in later years. When she finally managed to force him from her mind, she couldn't say what he had seen and what not anymore. She wasn't sure what was the most visible in her eyes as she looked at him, but when she did so, he laughed. Only later, she would find that he had had some past with the same woman that was on Bellatrix's mind then. He had wanted her as well, had wanted Minerva McGonagall for himself when at Hogwarts, their times at school having overlapped for the most of it.

She never would have her, she realized more than ever after the Legilimency. Too much had happened, gone haywire.

She didn't even flinch or feel the pain in any way when he cut the shape of the Dark Mark in her flesh or when the ink slipped deep into it very slowly. She gave in to her destiny, without Minerva McGonagall.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Bellatrix Black never had been the most kind of all her pupils, but as she returned for her seventh year at Hogwarts, Minerva noticed something vastly different. She couldn't pinpoint it, though. The encounter between her and the then seventeen-year-old had rummaged through her head often and most especially when seeing her and teaching her – it had clouded the whole of the last month of the year prior. The summer holidays had proven to be needed to come to terms with it, to convince herself it had been only normal, that she had reacted that way on the sexual stimulation – especially since she had not been intimate with anyone in many years.

It would only be fourteen years later Minerva finally accepted to marry Elphinstone Urquart. Of course, she never loved him as a lover. She had gotten to care for him very much through the years and was genuinely upset by his passing, though – but she had never really loved him like Dougal. In the end maybe he was only her best option? Minerva was honest with him about it, but he never actually seemed to mind.

When September arrived again, Minerva had learned to see all more in perspective once again. She could look at her pupil without being reminded of that time after class so pointedly, without a rush of shame and confusion filling her head, no longer being able to tell what was either left or right anymore.

In the second week of that first month, as she stood watching her seventh year Ravenclaws and Slytherins copy the text from the blackboard, a hint of black caught her eye, and she fleetingly wondered if it had really been there or if she only had imagined, because when she looked closer, it seemed to be gone. She chose to rely on her instincts nonetheless and as lesson ended, asked Bella to stay. Minerva's heartbeat elevated slightly at that point.

She knew that the time of polite questions had passed, so as Bellatrix reached her, Minerva spoke, "I would like to see your left arm."

"Why?" Bellatrix countered in a snappy, defensive and unkind tone.

"I won't ask again," Minerva replied.

"You never asked to begin with!" Bellatrix bit, but did as she had asked. She was more than curious for the elder witch's reaction. She doubted that the prim Gryffindor would know what it really meant or who it belonged to – who she belonged to now. She rolled her sleeve higher blindly and watched Minerva's face closely. Her eyes momentarily widened but she said nothing upon seeing the skull and snake that had been tattooed on her arm over the summer holidays. Her lips pursed for a moment, Bellatrix thought, though.

"What's that?"

"My master calls it his Dark Mark."

That seemed to confuse and irritate Minerva even more. "Your master?" she repeated. She had no idea of what was going on, but seemingly a lot had changed over the holidays. That little something Minerva had still often caught in her dark eyes then had gone now, she realized – the very last shred of kindness and good nature maybe? She didn't particularly like the term 'master' and certainly not how it rolled from Bellatrix's mouth.

"My master," Bella confirmed. Of course, she was intelligent enough not to reveal more than that, let alone the cause Lord Voldemort strived for… The cause which she had signed for now, too. Minerva always wanted the best for everyone and equal rights. You could bet she wouldn't applaud it. She most likely wasn't Pureblood herself either. Otherwise, she would have known of it… and she knew of no McGonagalls in her extended Pureblood family. "It creates a connection of sorts between me and him," she said. "We share… things, you see. We share quite a lot of things – our view upon how a perfect world would be like, for instance."

"Who is your master, Bellatrix? What happened?"

Bellatrix heard the confusion and the worry in her soft voice. It made her impossibly mad somehow. "You happened!" she screamed, her voice sounding strangely inhuman suddenly. Then she pointed at the bench at the end of the wide classroom. "You could have saved me when you lay there from both this and the rest of my fate! I was never good enough, though. So why the hell should I keep fighting?"

"I don't…"

"Of course…" Bella muttered, her voice laced with pure venom. "Whatever happens from now will be your fault – whatever I will do under his command. I was destined to be this. Have you ever heard of self-fulfilling prophecies, my dear _Minerrrrva_?" she purred, stressing the 'r'. It made her skin crawl. She couldn't ponder about Bellatrix using her given like that, taken by how it rolled off her tongue and everything else that had.

"Miss Black…"

"You'll know when it is too late. Remember the moment when you pushed me off that desk," Bellatrix said. "You might have been the one I listened to and obeyed for the rest of my life, but you said no! I never was good enough for you. No one is good enough for you, and that's why you'll become an old spinster."

Nostrils flared in fury, Minerva replied, "You are my pupil. I am your professor. We crossed a line… and no matter what happens, a pupil and a professor are not supposed to cross it like that… to have what you seem to want with me."

"I don't want anything _with _you. I want you – nothing more, nothing less," Bella spat. "We have crossed it. You can't just get in the line again without looking back – not without feeling the consequences!"

Minerva didn't even have a chance to give any detention, for Bella had left in seconds, leaving her behind stunned. She sat at her desk, running through the words over and over again… and getting none the wiser – until months later maybe. She lost all sense of time as she sat there, not showing at dinner in the Great Hall.

A knock from the headmaster upon the door to her classroom shook her from her reverie, at eight in the evening. When she still hadn't shown anywhere by then, he had chosen to look for her in the castle. "Minerva. Are you all right?"

As her eyes connected with those of her superior, old professor, she… broke. Great reluctance mixed with intense relief ran through her as finally, she shared the reasons for her absent behavior… begging him not to judge her, not to blame her. Albus neither judged nor blamed her, which helped.

Albus, unlike Minerva, had a very good idea of who Bellatrix Black's master was. He had never really thought of Tom Riddle as entirely honest or anything – even as a little boy, he had been the one other children were always frightened of. Then in later years, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore watched as he sank further into the depths of darkness. He tried to talk to Tom multiple times of course… but it had always been a monologue, in which he said all was fine and that he did not need to worry about anything.

Bellatrix's 'initiation' confirmed what he had always feared would happen: Tom Riddle gathering a group of 'followers' over whom he could rule and whom he could use… He tried to find him, of course. There had never been a doubt about his intelligence, though… and while in the end Albus was most likely not to be beat, he remained one step ahead at all times for a little while… for longer then hoped.

He would have opted to ask Bellatrix as a very last resort, but… it so happened that she didn't return after Christmas. New thing they knew: weird stuff began happening, Muggle-Borns began disappearing... It had been set into motion.


End file.
